Abstract:

The TEMI science education project aims to train secondary school science teachers across Europe. Consisting of 13 partners coordinated by the Queen Mary University of London (teachingmysteries.eu/en/about/), it is funded by the European Commission under the 7th Framework Programme and it will conclude in 2016. The TEMI consortium strongly believes that students should feel that something mysterious is about to be unveiled every time the science teacher enters the classroom and that students themselves should actively contribute to the process of investigation. TEMI teacher training workshops aim to transform science and mathematics teaching practice across Europe by giving teachers new skills to engage with their students, new teaching resources and extended support needed to effectively introduce enquiry based learning into their classrooms. TEMI adopts a clear definition of enquiry in terms of a cognitive skillset, and sets out a stepwise progression to push students towards becoming confident enquirers. The project pays equal attention to the affective side of learning. We will help teachers foster a deep motivation to learn, by bringing to the fore the sense of mystery, exploration and discovery that is at the core of all scientific practice. All TEMI actions are based around core scientific concepts and emotionally engaging activities of solving mysteries and exploring the unknown.

The four theoretical pillars supporting the TEMI rationale are:
(1) Develop curiosity and interest through mysteries;
(2) The 5E learning cycle for enquiry;
(3) Gradual Release of Responsibility model; and
(4) Maintaining motivation with the help of showmanship.

At the INTED conference, the TEMI consortium will share classroom lesson plans that reflect the TEMI methodology and the results from the one year of teachers training in 9 European countries. Evaluation is an important aspect of the TEMI project and time for feedbacks is allocated at the end of each cohort held in the 9 countries where TEMI workshops take place.

The scope of presenting TEMI at the INTED gathering is to share the TEMI methodology and first results, and classroom resources developed according to the theoretical pillars of the project, in order to engage in a fruitful discussion with INTED participants.

Keywords:

Science, mysteries, showman, gradual release of responsibility, showmany, 5E method, enquiry based science education.